In this series we’ll take a fresh look at resources and how they are used. We’ll go beyond natural resources like air and water to look at how efficiency in raw materials can boost the bottom line and help the environment. We’ll also examine the circular economy and design for reuse — with an eye toward honoring those resources we do have.

While changes at home can’t solve the many environmental crises we face today, they can sure help. Through this series, we’ll explore how initiatives like curbside compost pick-up, rebates on compost bins, and efficient appliances can help families reduce their impact without breaking the bank.

Despite decades -- centuries even -- of global efforts, slavery can still be found not just on the high seas, but around the world and throughout various supply chains. Through this series on forced labor, sponsored by C&A Foundation, we’ll explore many different types of bonded and forced labor and highlight industries where this practice is alive and well today.

In this series we examine how companies should respond to national controversy like police violence and the BLM movement to best support employees and how can companies work to improve equality by increasing diversity in their ranks directly.

Compost is often considered a panacea for the United States’ tremendous food waste problem. Indeed, composting is a much better option than putting spoiled food in a garbage can destined for a landfill.

Perhaps the wheels of government are too heavy to stop once they are set in motion, or maybe they are just a little too well greased by their friends in industry. Whatever the reason, the folks at USDA were either unwilling or unable to apply the brakes on their decision to approve Monsanto’s genetically modified “Roundup Ready” alfalfa despite the urgent warning sent out two weeks before the announcement by Dr. Don Huber, a plant pathologist and retired Purdue University professor.

Huber expressed grave concern about a newly discovered pathogen that has been found in high concentrations of other Roundup Ready crops such as soybeans and corn.

Researchers believe that this pathogen could be causing infertility in livestock and diseases in crops that could threaten the entire domestic food supply.

In a letter that Huber wrote to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack on January 16, he said,

“I believe the threat we are facing from this pathogen is unique and of a high risk status. In layman’s terms, it should be treated as an emergency.”

Huber has spent much of his 40-year career as a scientist in the professional and military agencies that evaluate and prepare for natural and man-made biological threats, including germ warfare and disease outbreaks.

Huber asked Secretary Vilsack for an immediate moratorium of all Roundup Ready crops, but instead, on January 26, the agency deregulated the Roundup Ready alfalfa after a five year legal battle. A week later, on Feb 4th, the agency partially deregulated Roundup Ready sugar beets.

According to research by a group of senior scientists, this previously unknown pathogen, which is so small, it can only be seen by an electron microscope, has a significant impact on both plants and animals and quite possibly humans. This is quite rare. According to Dr. Huber’s letter, “if either the R[oundup] R[eady] gene or Roundup itself is a promoter or co-factor of this pathogen,” then, “approval could be a calamity.”

The “very serious” pathogen is found in much higher concentrations among Roundup Ready crops as compared to non-GMO varieties. He said laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of the organism in pigs, cattle and other livestock that have experienced spontaneous abortions and infertility.

USDA officials declined to comment about the letter’s contents.

“We’re reviewing it, and will respond directly to Dr. Huber, rather than responding through the media,” said USDA spokesman Andre Bell.

Huber has been studying Roundup Ready Alfalfa for some time. He published a study back in 2007 that showed that this variety was susceptible to manganese deficiencies while other varieties were not. He hypothesized that once the Roundup (glyphosate) was absorbed into a plant’s leaves, it traveled into the roots where it killed off micro-organisms that help make micro-nutrients available to the plant.

Opposition to the Roundup Ready (RR) alfalfa was particularly strong among organic growers. This is because of contamination by pollinators. Once any trace of GM alfalfa is found in any plant, or in any animal that ate that plant, or any dairy products produced by that animal, it can no longer be considered organic even if the contamination was entirely accidental. So, of course, this could be devastating to the organic industry. A report submitted by Forage Genetics International, the company that developed the Roundup ready Alfalfa for Monsanto claimed that between 0 and 0.18% contamination of neighboring crops was likely to occur. However, during the period before the RR alfalfa was banned (2005-6), actual field data taken in California, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming by Dairyland and Cal/West Seeds showed rates of transgenic contamination as high as 12%.

Ironically, many experts believe that herbicides are totally unnecessary in alfalfa cultivation, since the plant grows vigorously and generally crowds out its competition. Indeed, its “ability to thrive in a wide range of environments allows alfalfa to grow as a prolific weed in most areas, including fields, ditches, roadways, backyards and beyond.”

One other point worth noting here, the top 50 companies holding either agricultural or food patents have contributed more than $572 million in campaign contributions and lobbying efforts since 1999. Frank Lucas (R-Oklahoma), the chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, who led the effort to deregulate Monsanto’s controversial alfalfa, has received some $1.25 million from agribusiness during his political career to date.

Because of the Roundup resistant super-weeds that have evolved, farmers are now using a domesticated version of Agent Orange to try to deal with this outbreak. The continuing escalation of chemical warfare in our food production system has led to an increase of at least at least 318 million more pounds of herbicides and pesticides used in the past 13 years as a result of planting GE crop seeds like Roundup Ready corn and soy, much of which ends up in our bodies This is particularly ironic considering that one of the selling points of GM foods in the first place was that they would reduce the need for pesticides.

RP Siegel is the co-author of the eco-thriller Vapor Trails, which focuses on sustainability issues involving energy. Follow-up volumes addressing food and water-related issues are in progress.

Like airplanes, we all leave behind a vapor trail. And though we can easily see others’, we rarely see our own.

RP Siegel, author and inventor, shines a powerful light on numerous environmental and technological topics. His work has appeared in Triple Pundit, GreenBiz, Justmeans, CSRWire, Sustainable Brands, PolicyInnovations, Social Earth, 3BL Media, ThomasNet, Huffington Post, Strategy+Business, Mechanical Engineering, and engineering.com among others . He is the co-author, with Roger Saillant, of Vapor Trails, an adventure novel that shows climate change from a human perspective. RP is a professional engineer - a prolific inventor with 52 patents and President of Rain Mountain LLC a an independent product development group. RP recently returned from Abu Dhabi where he traveled as the winner of the 2015 Sustainability Week blogging competition.Contact: bobolink52@gmail.com

2 responses

GMO’s The Government and Monsanto’s revolving door policy are the down fall of the organic farmer. Did anybody look into Monsanto’s past endeavors? With a track record like that isn’t there a sliver of hope that “someone” would say hold on not so fast. Once this Frankenstein food gets released, there is no stopping it. Thank you for your effort for spreading the word and enlightening the people

Great article Mr. Siegel. There is a ton of interesting information in a very short space. Here is the letter I wrote to President Obama (I urge others to do the same):

Dear Mr. President: This is a fairly urgent message. Let me start with a quote from one Dr. Huber: “For the past 40 years, I have been a scientist in the professional and military agencies that evaluate and prepare for natural and manmade biological threats, including germ warfare and disease outbreaks,” Huber wrote in his January 16 letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Based on this experience, I believe the threat we are facing from this pathogen is unique and of a high risk status. In layman’s terms, this should be treated as an emergency.” Several things need to be done. First and foremost, you should reverse the decision to deregulate Roundup Ready alfalfa and corn. Secondly, Tom Vilsack should be fired for this oversight. Third, you should seriously consider banning both Roundup and Roundup Ready crops. Once they get into the food chain, they will be virtually impossible to remove. Pollen, after all, is airborne. And we have already seen that these crops are capable creating new, virulent pathogens. We should have learned by now that when we do unnatural things, nature responds in an unnatural way. Remember mad cow disease? Had it been airborne, we could easily have had a devastating epidemic on our hands. How long will you and your administration sacrifice our health for profit? Sincerely, Vince Czyz